U.S consumers owe billions in electricity charges, and they are the new target for Bitcoin scammers

• Many U.S consumers may soon be disconnected from the power grid for failure to pay their power bills on time, data from utility providers shows.
• Bitcoin scammers have been targeting such consumers with threatening calls that demand Bitcoin payment or the risk of being disconnected in an hour.

Scammers have a knack for finding the most inconspicuous situations to defraud their victims, and the latest is through targeting U.S consumers who owe thousands in electricity payments. The scammers call their victims, demanding Bitcoin in payment, and threaten to disconnect the consumers if the payments are not made.

In New Jersey alone, residential customers owed the state power provider over $660 million in unpaid power bills as of January, the Asbury Park Press reports. They face the risk of having their natural gas or electric service cut off on March 15.

And as the state’s Public Service Electric & Gas revealed, scammers have cropped up to take advantage.

Jane Bergen, the agency’s director of billing, commented:

Scammers continue to adapt and develop increasingly sophisticated tactics to take advantage of our customers.

The scammers mostly rely on phone calls to the victims. They tell them that their bill is due and their service is set to be disconnected. They then ask for payment either in Bitcoin, gift cards, or even prepaid cards and threaten that if the payment isn’t made, the consumer stands to be disconnected.

Consumers should never make any payments to such scammers, Bergen warns. For one, the New Jersey state agencies will never give you a 1-hour window to make payment. The utility providers usually send a notice at least ten days in advance and then follow it up with calls up until the last day.

Even more importantly, New Jersey agencies will never ask for payment to be made in Bitcoin, Bergen added.

While targeting utility users is somewhat new, it falls squarely under scammers’ rulebook – target the people least likely to suspect you and tie the scam with something they care deeply about.

In the past, scammers have obtained people’s data from their phones and laptop and threatened to leak it, fully aware that people value their privacy and will pay handsomely to preserve it.

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